D.C. readers: Tomorrow's breakfast conversation is about how innovation is impacting the healthcare market. Agenda and RSVP here.

Top of the Morning

Illustration: Sarah Grillo / Axios

We now have even more reason to blame senior secured lenders to Toys "R" Us for the retailer's epic shutdown, with Bloomberg reporting that buyout firm Sycamore Partners held advanced talks to buy the company and keep half of its U.S. stores in business.

But: "The retailer’s senior creditors calculated they would see a better return if the company were liquidated and its assets sold off."

This still doesn't excuse the many mistakes made by private equity firms Bain Capital and KKR .

But thousands of jobs could have been saved if not for "B4 lender" intransigence. It's something we've discussed before, and it's only reinforced by the Sycamore revelation.

Final inventory, per Bloomberg: "Almost every company asset—cash flows, property, inventory, equity in the international operations—was pledged to a lender, sometimes twice. Toys "R” Us had nothing left to promise."

•New firm alert: Alphabet exec Scott Tierney is launching a new shop called Valo Ventures, with an SEC filing disclosing that he's already secured $175 million of what could be a $250 million debut fund.

Tierney was a co-founding partner of what was originally known as Google Capital (now CapitalG). He later moved on to lead strategy and corp dev for Google Fiber, and has spent the past year in a similar role for Nest Labs.

Word is that he'll remain with Alphabet for at least a little while longer, but neither Tierney nor an company spox returned requests for comment.

•Candidate Schultz: Early last year I wrote that Donald Trump would test CEO President Theory, or the idea that biz leaders are better equipped than politicians to sit in the Oval Office. And the outcome, I argued, could prove "a double-edged sword for someone like Howard Schultz."

Schultz has clearly thought about this too, yesterday stressing a distinction that I didn't address: The fiduciary difference between running a public company (i.e., Starbucks) and a private one (i.e., Trump Org). If he runs in 2020, expect to hear a lot more about this.

•Recommended read: The WSJ goes behind-the-scenes of the split between Facebook and the co-founders of WhatsApp, which remains the social network's largest-ever acquisition. Or, put another way, what would cause anyone to walk away from $1.3 billion? Worthy of your time.

The BFD

Source: Giphy

Seidler Equity Partners and Major League Baseball agreed to jointly buy Rawlings, a St. Louis-based sporting goods and equipment maker, from Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL) for $395 million.

Why it's the BFD: Because MLB is three years into a home run surge that many believe is enabled by juiced baseballs, which are made by Rawlings. MLB has said its testing shows no such alterations, but also has the rhetorical "out" that it isn't the manufacturer. This deal eliminates that arms-length plausible deniability.

Box score: Rawlings generated around $330 million in revenue last year. Newell acquired it via the $13 billion purchase of Jarden in 2016, and is divesting as part of a larger debt-reduction plan.

Bottom line: "Rawlings, which is credited with introducing the first football shoulder pads, traces its roots to a small store in St. Louis opened by brothers George and Alfred Rawlings. Its gloves have been worn by baseball greats like Roberto Clemente and Mickey Mantle. And Rawlings baseballs have been the official, and exclusive, game balls since 1977." — Maria Armental, WSJ

Venture Capital Deals

• Hellobike, a Chinese bike-sharing startup, raised around $321 million from Alibaba’s Ant Financial unit at a valuation just south of $1.5 billion. http://axios.link/UoBL

🚑 Science37, a Playa Vista, Calif.-based developer of "site-less" clinical trials, is in talks to raise around $130 million in Series D funding from SoftBank at a $300 million pre-money valuation, per Recode. http://axios.link/dU78

•Chezhibao, a Chinese used car auction platform, has raised $125 million in Series D funding. Green Harbor Investment led, and was joined by return backers PAG, Partners and Addor Capital. http://axios.link/W8oJ

•Marqeta, an Oakland-based open API platform for prepaid debit and credit cards, raised $45 million in new funding. Iconiq Capital led, and was joined by Goldman Sachs and return backers. http://axios.link/62qL

•OneLogin, a San Francisco-based unified access management startup, raised $22.5 million in Series C funding. Existing backers include CRV, Social Capital and Scale Venture Partners. http://axios.link/opEq

•Caroobi, a Berlin-based platform that connects auto mechanics with consumers and parts suppliers, raised $20 million in Series B funding led by NGP Capital. http://axios.link/FQdm

•Verity Studios, a Swiss developer of indoor drones, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Fontinalis Partners led, and was joined by Airbus Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund and Kitty Hawk. http://axios.link/ftuE

Private Equity Deals

🚑 The Blackstone Group and Royal Dutch Shell submitted a joint bid for BHP Billiton’s (ASX: BHP) U.S. shale portfolio, which could be valued at upwards of $9 billion, per Bloomberg. Other suitors include BP and Chevron, with others like Apollo Global Management bidding on smaller slices of the shale portfolio. http://axios.link/W5UF

🐶 PetSmart is spinning off a 20% equity stake in Chewy, the e-commerce site it acquired for $3 billion last year, to PetSmart majority owner BC Partners. The move clears the way for a possible Chewy IPO. http://axios.link/I6TO

Public Offerings

•Cornerstone Management, a Chinese private equity firm, filed for a $70 million IPO. It plans to trade on the Nasdaq (CSCA), with ViewTrade as sole underwriter.

🚑 ElectroCore, a Baskin Ridge, N.J.-based maker of non-invasive nerve stimulation devices for treating migraines, set IPO terms to 4.3 million shares at $14-$16. It would have a fully diluted market value of $419 million, were it to price in the middle. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq (ECOR) with Piper Jaffray as lead underwriter. Shareholders include Core Ventures and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. www.electrocore.com

•Marley Spoon, a Berlin-based meal kit company that operates globally, has filed for an Australian IPO that could give it a market cap of around US$152 million. It has raised over $40 million from firms like Quasar Discovery Ventures, Lakestar, Kreos Capital, WestTech Ventures and TA Ventures. http://axios.link/Fx7F

Fundraising

•Innovation Endeavors has closed its latest fund with $333 million and promoted venture partner Harpi Singh to partner. This is the first time that IE has taken outside money, having previously been funded solely by Eric Schmidt.